JS Debate: The role of Christian ethics in African Development

Tuesday 8th April, 1:05pm - 1:55pm St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside EC2V 6AU ‘Are you in a world of your own? The role of Christian ethics in African Development.’ In association with Christian Aid.

Dr Genevieve James, a lecturer at the University of South Africa specialising in urban mission and theology, and Dr Simanga R Kumalo, a lecturer in Practical Theology and Christian Education at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, led this stimulating discussion organised by Christian Aid. Rob Cunningham, Christian Aid’s South Africa country director, was in the chair.

Dr James began by noting that many politicians in developing countries appeared to be in a luxurious world of their own, ignoring the plight of the people they had been elected to serve. She also suggested that many development agencies were in a world of their own, detached from the realities of the people they sought to aid. She categorised them as ’sad samaritans’ (who emphasised the tragedy and desperation of Africans whilst ignoring their verve); ‘glad samaritans’ (who offered quick-fix, naive solutions); and ‘mad samaritans’ (who raved about corruption and refused to work with Africa to develop Africa). Development founded upon Christian ethics, in contrast, offered a holistic model that emphasised human and spiritual development as well as economic development. Christian ethics also taught that each of us has personal responsibility to look beyond our own worlds and involve ourselves in the worlds of others. Our consumerist society favoured individualism whereas Christian ethics suggests that we are united and that the wellbeing of one is bound up with that of another. That provides a vital counter to the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ which risks affecting us, where everyone thinks someone will do something and in the end noone does anything.

Dr Kumalo emphasised the importance of community and suggested that a strong sense of community was something that Africa might export to the West. Africans also had a healthier relation with religion, being less uniformly suspicious than many in the West of its role in development. The association of Christianity with colonial missions in the past meant that some Western Christians were uneasy about their role in development. The key was to see development as, like Christianity, liberating and transformative rather than an imposition. It was not a case of the West ‘developing’ Africa and being the definer of ‘development;’ rather, development was a 2-way process where each party needed to become interdependent, engaging with and learning from each other. Christian ethics strongly supported such a dynamic of mutual giving and receiving.

Questions from the audience included how a Christian concept of holistic development could be communicated to secular governments and other agencies, whether some ‘mega-churches’ were colluding with consumer values rather than engaging in development work, how politicians’ side-lining of religion in their politics and personal morality might be challenged, and what was the point for Christians, ultimately, of development. Conversations continued over Fairtrade refreshments.

 

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